What is HTML5?

Most of us take for granted the machinations going on behind the scenes of our favorite technology, and nowhere is that more true than in the seemingly mundane task of surfing web pages with a browser. Sure, you might know that certain browsers are more forward thinking than others when it comes to new standards such as HTML5, but what does it all mean for you?

What Does It Stand For?

“HTML” stands for Hyper Text Markup Language, which is most of the code that makes up the web pages we view each day. “HTML5” refers to the fifth generation of the original language introduced in 1990, following the previous HTLM4 first standardized in 1997.

What Does It Offer?

While HTML has been the cat’s meow for more than two decades, it’s fallen behind the insatiable demands of our media-centric world. Today’s internet is a far cry from the text and graphics pages of yesteryear that we all enjoyed via dial-up, and as HTML4 has struggled to keep up with add-ons such as Java, Adobe Flash and Microsoft’s Silverlight, it was clear that something’s gotta give.

Enter HTML5, which threatens to eliminate the need for unwieldy plug-ins while focusing on slick media playback. Gone are the days when pages coded in HTML4 are reliant on proprietary, bolt-on software just to play a simple YouTube video or audio stream. Simple HTML tags such as <video> and <audio> are (mostly) all that’s needed to make the magic unfold in your browser -- and that includes support for mobile devices including iOS.

Where Did It Come From?

HTML5 stretches back to 2004, with the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) pushing for the new standard as the existing World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) let HTML 4.01 stagnate for several years as they turned their attention to XHTML 2.0.

Since then, the two groups have decided to push forward adoption of HTML5 hand in hand, and the fledgling technology received a major boost from an unlikely place in April, 2010 when Apple CEO Steve Jobs penned his famous “Thoughts on Flash” letter, concluding that Adobe Flash was on the way out in favor of new standards such as HTML5.

HTML5 Growing Pains

Of course, nothing is quite that simple -- first of all, web browsers have to be updated to adopt these new standards, and then users have to be willing to upgrade what they already know and love to take advantage of it.

Worse yet, there are a number of thorny issues yet to be ironed out with HTML5, despite the fact that the technology is marching forward all the time. For example, Apple has already thrown their considerable weight toward the H.264 video format, which already powers the high-quality content rented and sold through its iTunes Store. As good as it is, H.264 will eventually require the companies using it to start paying royalty license fees, which is why others have been pushing for more open-source options.

That includes Mozilla, who has long pushed for the open-source Ogg container format, even while otherwise adopting HTML5 with the recent Firefox 4 -- sans H.264. Search giant Google has also back pedaled somewhat on their support of H.264 by announcing that they would push their own open source, royalty-free WebM format for HTML5 video -- based on the VP8 codec that they purchased from On2, also backed by Mozilla and Opera. Conflict of interest, anyone?

Who Supports HTML5?

Despite the seemingly epic struggle for video codec dominance with HTML5, adoption of the new standard in general has gone much better. With the release of Firefox 4 and Internet Explorer 9 earlier this year, all of the major web browsers now include support for various elements of HTML5, including Google Chrome and both desktop and mobile versions of Apple’s Safari.

The most recent high-profile company to take advantage of HTML5 in a big way is Playboy magazine, whose iPad-optimized iPlayboy.com is a subscription website offering every single issue of the legendary men’s magazine for a mere $8 per month. Since Apple doesn’t permit nudity in the App Store, the house that Hugh Hefner built circumvented the problem by taking advantage of the available HTML5 technology, creating an app-like experience right from Mobile Safari (or any other HTML5-friendly browser, be it desktop or mobile).

As time goes on, it will be harder to find sites that haven’t adopted HTML5 -- and the verdict is still out on whether that will mean the end of long-dominant proprietary technology such as Adobe Flash, since media companies are more quick to adopt HTML5 these days. Meanwhile, once-dominant companies such as Research in Motion are touting their new BlackBerry PlayBook tablet as being superior to the iPad mostly for its ability to play Flash video -- just when the world is finally shifting to HTML5.